Il leone di San Marco

Adventure film about Renaissance Venice with Tarzan and Peplum star Gordon Scott

This film, also known as "Il leone di San Marco" and "The Lion of St. Mark", was released in Italian cinemas on November 21, 1963. The film was directed by Luigi Capuana, who also made "Der Henker von Venedig / The Executioner of Venice" (1963) with Lex Barker in the same year.

In 1620, Venice was repeatedly attacked by pirates from the Dalmatian coast. The Venetians want to defend themselves, but the Doge (Feodor Chaliapin Jr.) wants to leave it to hired mercenaries. This doesn't sit well with his son Manrico (Gordon Scott) and his friend Giandolo (Rik Battaglia). Since the mercenaries don't fight decisively enough, the two powerful ruffians really want to take on the fight themselves. Manrico, disguised as the Lion of San Marco, begins to trouble the pirates more and more and gradually becomes a folk hero. But there are also problems on the private front. The Doge wants to marry his son to the beautiful Isabella (Franca Bettola), who is already dreaming of a diplomatic career alongside her future husband at the French court. That's nothing for the tough daredevil. Luckily, he runs into the pugnacious pirate daughter Rosanna (Gianna Maria Canale)...

You can already tell that a predictable story is supposed to be crossed with beautiful images of Venice and lots of action-heavy fight scenes. This works quite well too. The pictures of Venice are really impressive. Gordon Scott, who became Lex Barker's successor in the USA as Tarzan (particularly worth seeing: "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" (1959) and "Tarzan, the Mighty" (1960) ), does a large part of his own stunts and is actually a Quite an agile guy who definitely doesn't mind the many fights. Even next to Steve Reeves, he really didn't have to hide, which he impressively demonstrated in "Romulus and Remus" (1961). Incidentally, Gordon Scott (1926-2007) was married in Hollywood to Vera Miles (1954-1959), who is unforgettable for her appearance as Marion Crane's sister Lila in "Psycho" (1960) by Alfred Hitchcock.

As the Lion of San Marco's sidekick, the attractive Rik Battaglia (1927-2015) also gets to shine a bit, appearing in films such as "La risaia / The Rice Girl" (1956) with Elsa Martinelli, "Sandokan" (1963) with Steve Reeves and - it should will not be left out here - is also known as Winnetou's murderer in German sauerkraut western "Winnetou III" (1965).

Gianna Maria Canale (1927-2009), who was married to director Riccardo Freda, had already been seen as the Amazon queen in "Le fatiche di Ercole / The Incredible Adventures of Hercules" (1958) alongside Steve Reeves (1926-2000), with his success The grandiose boom with Italian adventure films (Peplum or, as here, Cloak and Dagger) had only just begun at the box office around the world.

Highly recommended because of the beautiful Venice pictures and the good-humored actors!

Luigi Capuano made significant savings :for this movie and " il boia di Venezia" , he used the same settings (the palace , the tavern, even the convent !) and the same scenes of the carnival ,complete with masks and farandoles. Two movies for the price of one!

As Lex Barker was the son of a doge in the other swashbuckler , so is Gordon Scott ;but the screenplay is botched, less interesting than that of "il boia " ,and the hero is some kind of Zorro (the lion of Saint Mark ) who does not like his aristocratic fiancé and who falls for a woman pirate (Gianna Maria Canale); the rest is so predictable that no surprise lies in store for the viewer ; the cinematography is splendid, but the paucity of the story does not help .

If you want to see a swashbuckler set in Venice, take "il boia " instead. Not much food for thought ,but entertaining all the same!

Venice 1620: pirates are attacking the town almost weekly, and the army of mercenaries does not defend it properly. So Manrico (Gordon Scott) decides to pick up the black mask of the "Lion of San Marco" and attack the pirates when they don't expect it, only with the help of a few dedicated citizens. Things become complicated when Manrico falls in love with the beautiful pirate lady Rossana (Gianna Maria Canale) - now both are suspected to have become traitors...

A fast moving, colorful pirate adventure which benefits from its Venetian setting. It is something quite different from the usual Caribbean scenery: hardly open sea, different boats, the gondolieri, the designs. Nice role for Mirko Ellis who later appeared in many westerns. The lively music by Carlo Rustichelli also deserves mentioning. Note: the German version (for the cinema distribution in 1964) was cut to 89 minutes.

Great epic plenty of action and adventure with glamorous gowns and luxurious sets from Venice .This Spaghetti adventure is plenty of action , thrills , court intrigue , spectacular feats and a lot of sword-play . In 1620 pirates are terrorizing the Adriatic coast . Manrico (Gordon Scott) , son of Venice Dux (Feodor Chaliapin Jr.) , becomes ¨The Lion of St. Mark¨ to vanquish the invader pirates . Our hero sets out to defeat them while posing as a masked knight . But things go wrong when Manrico falls in love for the gorgeous pirate lady Rossana (Gianna Maria Canale) , now both are two suspicious on their sides , and they're considered as traitors . The picture is set in the end of middle ages , next to the Italian Rennaisance period. Was partially based on historical ¨Dux¨ derived from Latin dux, "military leader" , sometimes translated as Duke . Doges were the chief magistrates and leaders of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the man selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city. The doge was not a duke in the modern sense, nor was a doge the equivalent of a hereditary duke. The "doge" was the senior-most elected official of Venice and Genoa; both cities were republics and elected doges .

This is an entertaining swashbuckling, full of action , thrills , romance , double-crosses and of course , a lot of fencing . It's Gordon Scott against Alberto Farnese and while our beautiful starring Gian Maria Canale changes sides due to her strong love to Lion of St. Mark . Lavish production by Octavio Poggi with excellent gowns , evocative sets , spectacular gondolieri , wonderful palaces , bridges , Venice canals , all right cinematography by Alvaro Mancori and powerful score by Carlo Rustichelli . Containg lots of court intrigue , treason, twists and turns . Gordon Scott is pretty well as a masked hero relishing his secret identity dressed in black and throughly enjoying himself , he made lots of roman-epic-Italian films also called ¨Musclemen movies¨ or ¨Sword and sandals¨ as well as costumer sword-fight and a few Spaghetti Western . Luck's Gordon Scott changed when Italian director Sergio Corbucci persuaded him to go overseas to star ¨Romulo and Remo¨ along with Steve Reeves and later on , he continued to play several others . Scott played the mythic Maciste in great number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Hercules , Goliath , Samson or Aron for U. S. viewing . Gordon was an American bouncing who emigrated Europe where starred several Tarzan movies , subsequently was to Italy and created a true star-system based on pumped-up heroes . Scott and specially Steve Reeves paved the way for others actors to seek their fame and fortune in Italy playing stocky adventurers . Other stars by the time on this type of movies were Mark Forest , Gordon Mitchell , Dan Vadis , Kirk Morris , Brad Harris , Ken Wood ; furthermore 'Gordon Scott' made more important competence to Steve Reeves . Nobody , nevertheless, topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity . Gordon Scott played other epic characters : ¨Gladiator of Rome¨ , ¨Hero of Rome¨ , ¨Hercules and Princess of Troy¨ , ¨Conquest of Micene¨ , though also made some Spaghetti as ¨The tramplers¨ and ¨Buffalo Bill ¨, Spy-genre as ¨Secretissimo¨ , ¨Death ray¨ and , of course , his famous Tarzan movies as ¨Tarzan's greatest adventure¨, ¨Tarzan's Fight for Life¨ , ¨Tarzan and the hunters¨ and ¨Tarzan and the trappers ¨ , among others . In the movie appears usual support actors , all of them habitual in Horror/Peplum/Western genres , such as : Rik Battaglia , Alberto Farnese , Franca Bettoia , Giulio Marchetti , Feodor Chaliapin Jr. , Mirko Ellis , John Bartha and Franco Fantasia , an ordinary master of arms who played a number of secondary roles .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Luigi Capuano who also made in similar style ¨Il boia di Venezia¨ or ¨The executioner of Venice¨ (1963) also set in Venice and same period piece with the Venetian¨Dux¨. Capuano was a good craftsman who made all kind of genres , and especially adventure movie . Capuano directed Spaghetti Western such as "Il Magnifico Texano" , Peplum as ¨Revenge of Ursus¨ ,"Revenge of the Gladiators" , "Hercules and the Black Pirates" and of course Adventures such as "Zorro in the Court of Spain" , "Zorro, Rider of Vengeance" , ¨Zorro and three musketeers¨ ,"Tiger of the Seven Seas" , ¨leopard of Sarawak¨ , ¨Vengeance of Sandokan¨ , "Terror of the Red Mask" starred by Lex Barker and this "The Lion of St. Mark" starred by the unforgettable Gordon Scott .

This film is mainly worth seeing for its exquisite photography of historical Venice in the 17th century. The action is a romantic swahbuckler account of the son of a Doge who falls in love with a pirate princess, for whose sake he deserts his bride to be, another but more conventional princess. The action is fast with many brilliant fights and a great siege to a fortress and a naval battle in the end. The costumes are also exquisitely stylish, the story is all right in its romantic exaggerations, while the actors are all rather mediocre, incluidng Gordon Scott in the lead. If you find this entertainment somewhat superficial and undramatic in its load of clichés, at least you can enjoy the beauty of Venice and its 17th century people to the full.